The original "worse is better" essay is on to something, but its conclusions are mistaken. Implementation simplicity only accelerates growth when the product must be reimplemented. Unix was a standard that had to be reimplemented for every architecture, so its simplicity compelled more people to do that.

Mesos is not a standard. It's a singular product. It doesn't have to be reimplemented. Implementation simplicity doesn't accelerate growth. In fact, the increased complexity it foists onto clients hinders growth.